Old Ghosts
by Duckett-1
Summary: Aurora Banner, SHIELD agent, began working closely with Steve Rogers after the events in New York that claimed them both as Avengers. When they discover that SHIELD isn't what they thought it was, they get caught up in a thick web of deceit put in place by Hydra, they come face-to-face with their most dangerous opponent yet-the Winter Soldier. Prequel to Fire Meet Gasoline.
1. Chapter 1

_**Washington, D.C., 2014**_

Aurora jogged around the Potomac, passing an African American man in an Air Force sweatshirt before Steve blew by her.

She rolled her eyes and sped up, her dark brown hair tied into a thick knot in the back of her head. She passed the African American man again, swinging her arms at a quick but steady pace that stretched the sleeves of her gray athletic shirt and black running shorts.

She finished her run and stopped beside Steve, who had—of course—beaten her there.

"Hey, Aurora," Steve said with a grin, his blonde hair ruffled from his run. He jogged backward around her teasingly. "On your left."

Aurora smiled and laughed softly, pushing his chest playfully and looking at him with bicolored eyes—one green and one brown. "Very funny, Steve. I'm sorry I don't have super serum that makes me—" she gestured to his entire body. "— _that_."

Steve laughed. "No, but there's a trade-off. I don't have—" he gestured to her head. "—that crazy brain."

She laughed again. "Crazy indeed."

He smiled at her.

Aurora sensed a new mind appearing nearby them, and she turned to see the man they were running past leaning against a tree, breathing heavily with a sweat ring around the neck of his sweatshirt.

"Need a medic?" Steve asked when the man dropped against the tree.

"I need a new set of lungs. Did you two just run thirteen miles in half an hour?" He asked breathlessly.

"Guess I got a late start," Steve replied with a smile, placing his hands on his hips.

"Really? You should be ashamed of yourself. Go take another lap." His head fell back against the tree. "Did you take it? I assume you just took it."

Aurora laughed softly.

The man looked at her. "You too. You take another lap too."

Aurora snorted. "I got up an hour before he did. I didn't run thirteen miles in half an hour. I'm not that good. I just timed him on that last one."

Steve chuckled again. He stepped toward the other man and held out his hand to help him up.

The man took it and heaved himself to his feet with Steve's help.

"Sam Wilson," the man greeted with a nod.

"Steve Rogers," the captain replied with a nod of his own.

"Yeah, I figured that out," Sam said with a smile. He turned to Aurora. "Hey."

"Hi," she replied with a smile, her heterochromic eyes glittering. "Aurora Banner."

She held out her hand for Sam to shake, which he took happily.

"Nice to meet you, Aurora," Sam replied with another smile.

"Nice to meet you too." She smiled, noticing his Air Force sweatshirt again. "Air Force? What unit?"

Steve stepped forward, suddenly interested.

"Fifty-eighth para-rescue," Sam informed them. "But I work at the VA now. What about you?"

"Me?" Aurora asked, but she knew he could tell she was a veteran too.

"Yeah, come on. I can tell." Sam insisted. "Army? Navy? Marines?"

"Army pilot," Aurora admitted.

Steve looked at her in surprise. "I didn't know you were in the army."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Captain Rogers," she replied with a smile.

"Apparently." He smiled, his blue eyes shimmering.

"You must miss the good ol' days, huh?" Sam asked Steve.

"Well, things aren't so bad," Steve admitted. "Food's a lot better—we used to boil everything. No polio's good. Internet, so helpful. Been reading on that a lot, trying to catch up."

Sam paused and thought for a moment. "Marvin Gaye, nineteen-seventy-two, _Troubleman_ soundtrack. Everything you missed jammed into one album."

"I'll put it on the list." Steve pulled a journal out of his back pocket.

Steve and Aurora's phones went off at the same time, suddenly drawing their attention to those. It was a text from Natasha, telling them they had a new mission and that she'd be there to get them.

"Alright, Sam, duty calls," Steve told him, shaking his hand just before Aurora did. "Thanks for the run. If that's what you wanna call running."

"Oh, that's how it is?" Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, that's how it is," Steve confirmed with a smile.

Aurora winked. "Good to meet you, Sam. Maybe we can catch up sometime."

"You two should come down to the VA sometime," Sam said with a smile. "Make me look real good with the lady at the front desk."

Aurora laughed. "Well I wouldn't help you that much."

"I dunno. Let me flirt with you a little and we can see how much good it does."

Steve flushed almost uncomfortably and Aurora laughed.

"What's the matter, Cap?" She asked with a smile. "Flirting still a foreign concept?"

He rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Aurora."

They spoke with Sam a little more before a black Lamborghini rolled up, and the winged door opened.

Natasha sat inside. "Anyone know where the Smithsonian is? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

"You're hilarious." Steve grumbled.

Aurora laughed and slid into the tiny backseat before Steve took the shotgun side and they left for their mission.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Over the Atlantic, 2014**_

Aurora stood beside Steve, preparing to drop onto the _Lemurian_ _Star_ beside him, before Natasha and the Strike Team.

Natasha was busy trying to secure Steve a date, and Aurora was trying to ignore it. The conversation made her uncomfortable to even be near, because Steve made her feel like she was back at Xavier's School in high school, when the guy she liked would ask her a question—she was crushing _hard_. It made her feel childish and embarrassed.

"Secure channel seven," Steve said through the comms.

"Seven secure," Natasha replied into it before looking at Steve. "Doing anything fun Saturday night?"

"Well, all the guys in my barbershop-quartet are dead, so… no, not really." Steve replied with a slight smile.

Nat smiled as Steve opened the launch bay.

"You know, if you asked out Kristin from statistics, she'd probably say yes," Natasha pointed out.

"That's why I don't ask," Steve said as he walked forward beside Aurora.

"Too shy or too scared?" Natasha teased.

Steve grinned, and held onto Aurora for the jump. "Too busy."

She grabbed ahold of him and they fell off the ramp.

They separated just before the collision with the ocean, jumping up onto the deck. Aurora twisted into tuck-and-rolls as they landed, and Steve held a man in a sleeper-hold until he couldn't fight back.

Steve looked at Aurora. "Cover?"

She nodded and closed her eyes, summoning fog off the water to conceal the ship just enough to cause confusion. She and Steve could still see through it.

They fought through the insurgents on the deck, splitting apart to take them down on each side. The Strike Team followed quickly.

Natasha landed beside them, walking beside Steve for a moment. "What about that nurse that lives across the hall from you? She seems kinda nice."

"Secure the engine room, and then find me a date," Steve ordered her as he and Aurora kept walking, the named telepath rolling her eyes.

"I'm multitasking," Natasha called before hopping over railing and disappearing from sight.

Aurora was keeping tabs of the entire team—the Strike Team fanning out to try and get to the hostages; Natasha heading for the engine room; and Steve taking out as many pirates as he possibly could, no matter how unfair the odds might have been—for the pirates of course.

She ducked quickly under an expected swing from a pirate who thought he was hiding from her, waving her hand and tossing him overboard with a wave of teal energy.

Aurora looked down at her hand like it had betrayed her. Every day she spent on missions or training with Steve the energy turned just a little bluer, the green of her original power slowly fading the longer she spent with the Captain, the stronger her feelings became.

She was pulled from her thoughts when another pirate lunged for her, and she ducked again, shot back to her feet, and swung a back roundhouse into the side of his head, her boot heel connecting hard. She waved a hand, and progressively bluer energy flung the pirate across the S.H.I.E.L.D. carrier.

She hoped Steve didn't see it.

"Strike Team," Aurora called into her comlink. "Are the hostages secure?"

"Hostages secure," Rumlow answered quickly. "You and Cap get the rest of the insurgents."

"On it," Aurora said quickly, jogging to meet Steve as he hurled his shield through glass to take down the remaining pirates.

She pulled it back with the teal energy, forcing herself to ignore the color change in hopes that Steve wouldn't notice. She handed it back to him, abruptly stopped when a large foot slammed into her side.

She slid to the side on her side, holding her ribcage as the Algerian pirate, Batroc, lunged for Steve, who was taken off guard and was blocking most of the attacks with his shield.

When Batroc stopped, he looked at Steve for a long moment. " _I thought you were more than just a shield._ "

Aurora got up and stepped beside Steve to help him.

Captain Rogers dropped the shield and took off his helmet, revealing his messy blonde hair. " _We'll see._ "

Steve and Aurora lunged in unison. Their attacks complimented each other so well that there was no opening for Batroc to break through before Steve finally just trucked the pirate through the door to the control room.

"Well, this is awkward," Natasha said with a smirk as she leaned over a computer.

Steve pushed back to his feet as Aurora walked inside behind the Captain.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked as he frowned and looked at the computer, frowning deeper.

"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into." Natasha said simply.

"Rumlow needed your help, what the hell are you doing here?" Steve asked shortly.

He looked at the screen. You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D. intel."

"Whatever I can get my hands on."

"We're supposed to be saving hostages, that was our mission."

"No, that was _your_ mission." Natasha replied as she unplugged the drive and turned to look at Steve. "And you've done it beautifully."

"You just jeopardized this whole operation," Steve snapped.

"I think that's overstating things," Natasha argued, raising an eyebrow.

Aurora put a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Take a breath, Steve."

He was still tense, fists clenched by his side, but she felt the muscles in his back slowly release some of their tension as she set her hand on his shoulder.

His blue eyes met hers and he relaxed a little more.

Aurora gasped, whirling around and catching a grenade that was tossed into the control room by Batroc in swirling blue-green energy. She tried to contain the blast.

"Get out!" She ordered Steve and Natasha. "Go!"

The Captain didn't move.

"Steve, go!" She ordered quickly, turning to look at him more fully.

He only lifted his shield again and shook his head. "Not without you."

"Steve, we don't—"

"I'm not leaving you." He swore, blue eyes locking with her's across the small distance as he waited.

She only insisted again. "I can't hold it forever, Rogers. Go!"

Steve grabbed her around the waist and jumped through the next window, Natasha following quickly.

Aurora lost her hold on the grenade and it exploded just after they ducked.

"Okay," Natasha admitted with a cough, all of them newly covered in soot from the blast. "That one's on me."

Steve huffed. "You're damn right." He helped Aurora to her feet, looking at her in quick concern before they left the blown control room.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D HQ**_

Aurora followed Steve into Director Fury's office, almost as upset as the captain was about the mission on the _Lemurian_ _Star_ , but for a different reason. She knew that Fury always compartmentalized on missions, but he almost always clued her in. This time, she'd been just as in the dark as Steve was. After almost six years at S.H.I.E.L.D., she thought she'd earned enough of his trust to at least know when someone else was running a side mission while she was on the main one.

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve demanded as he burst into Fury's office.

Fury obviously knew what he was talking about. "I didn't lie. Agent Romanoff had a different mission than the two of you."

"Which you neglected to share with either of us." Aurora said sharply, raising an eyebrow at the Director.

He sighed slightly, turning to Aurora rather than a still frowning Steve. "I told you what I thought you should know."

"You didn't think Natasha running a whole other mission wasn't something we needed to know?" Steve blurted. "Those hostages could've died."

"I sent the greatest soldier in history and one of my most powerful and trust agents to make sure that didn't happen."

"Soldiers trust each other," Steve snapped, "that's what makes it an army, not just a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye." He sighed and looked back to the Captain. "Look, I didn't want you to do anything you might be uncomfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

"And I'm not?" Aurora raised an eyebrow again. "I could've saved S.H.I.E.L.D. intel, Director. There's something you're not telling us."

"Maybe not. But it doesn't really matter now what I was hiding from you, now does it, Agent Banner?"

"I could make you tell me," she said simply, the threat scarily calm, but that was all it was. A threat. She'd never do it. She refused to force people against their will unless it was a last result.

Fury just leaned back with another shrug. "You could. But I don't think Rogers would approve."

"She doesn't need my approval to do anything." Steve spoke up flatly. "She can do whatever she wants."

"It's called compartmentalization," Fury snapped. "Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."

"Except you." Steve all but growled.

Fury sighed and stood up, refraining from calling her bluff. He knew she could, but he knew she wouldn't. "You're wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that."

Steve looked at Aurora with a raised eyebrow, asking if she knew where they were going.

She shook her head subtly, standing close to him as they followed Fury through the facility.

He looked down almost anxiously at her, and Aurora had to try not to let her mind slip towards his, just for a peek to feel past what he let out without realizing. She pulled back quickly though, this was _so_ far from the time and the last time she had gotten that close to his mind, her powers turned blue all the faster.

She almost blushed, but refrained as they climbed into the elevator behind Fury.

* * *

"Insight Bay," Fury said to the elevator.

The artificial intelligence denied. "Captain Rogers and Agent Banner do not have clearance for Project Insight."

"Director override: Fury, Nicholas J."

"Access granted."

The elevator started moving, and they stood in silence for part of the ride.

"You know, they used to play music," Steve commented softly.

Fury snorted. "Yeah. My grandfather operated one of these things for forty years. My granddad—worked in a nice building, he got good tips. He'd walk home every night, roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say "hi", people would say hi back. Time went on, neighborhood got rougher. He'd say "Hi", they'd say, "Keep on steppin'." Granddad got to grippin' that lunch bag a little tighter."

Steve looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "He ever get mugged?"

Fury laughed slightly. "Every week some punk would say _what's in the bag?_ "

"And what did he do?"

"He'd show 'em. A bunch of crumpled ones... and loaded .22 Magnum."

Steve nodded slightly, almost laughing at humor that wasn't there. He glanced at Aurora and saw that she seemed to have ignored the entire conversation.

Fury continued his story with a quick conclusion. "Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

They reached the basement level, and Steve saw Aurora's mismatched eyes grow wide.

"Yeah, I know," Fury stated, "they're a little bit bigger than a .22."

Steve looked on in as much shock as the telepath, breath catching and not realizing how close Aurora's mind had actually drawn to his until he felt an echoed flare of his confusion and then quick anger at Fury that he quickly pressed back down, with a smaller feeling of concern that wasn't wholly his.

"This is crazy," Aurora said softly, most of the statement hidden beneath a breath, but Steve still caught it.

"This is Project Insight," Fury explained. "Three next-generation Helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites.

"Launched from the _Numerian Star_?" Aurora guessed.

Fury nodded as he continued to explain. "Once we get them into the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Stark?" Steve asked.

"He had a few suggestions after he got an up-close- look at our old turbines."

Aurora snorted.

"These new long-range precision guns can eliminate a thousand hostiles a minute. Our satellites can read a terrorists DNA before he steps out of his spider-hole." Fury looked at Steve and Aurora. "We're going to neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

"I thought the punishment usually came after the crime," Steve commented.

"We can't afford to wait that long," Fury replied quickly.

"Who's _we_?"

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge and threat analysis. For once, we are way ahead of the curve."

"By holding a gun to everyone on earth and calling it protection." Steve all but scoffed.

"You know, I read those SSR files. The greatest generation, you guys did some nasty stuff." Fury shot back.

"Yeah," Steve defended, "we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so people could be free." Steve pointed around them to Project Insight. "This isn't freedom, this is fear."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world as it is, not as we'd like it to be," Fury retorted. "It's gettin' damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap."

Steve met his gaze evenly, blue eyes stern. "Don't hold your breath."

He glanced to Aurora, who had been oddly silent on something he knew she couldn't agree with.

"Do you have a comment, Agent Banner?" Fury asked, almost like he thought her silence was agreement that would hush the protesting Captain.

"How do the satellites read the DNA of their target? And what precautions have you taken to make sure it reads the entire genome exactly as it is?" She shook her head, staring at the floor with her heterochromic eyes. "If there's even the smallest glitch, it could kill any number of innocent people. A child, a sibling, anyone with a similar genome."

"We have precautions," Fury said simply.

Aurora's frown deepened. "Thanks for clearing that up, Director," she replied flatly, turning to leave just behind Steve.

* * *

Aurora was shaking her head, her arms still crossed as she split off from Steve to get dressed in mundane clothes and go home. She was surprised to see Steve waiting on her at the door.

"Oh," she said with a smile as she walked out, her bag slung over her shoulder. "Hey, Steve."

"Hey," he said with a returning smile. "Since we didn't ride to work this morning in our own vehicles, you want a ride? I keep a motorcycle here for things like this. And since we live in the same apartment building—thanks for getting me that apartment, by the way."

"You're welcome for the six-hundredth time," she said with a laugh, "and sure, I'll take a ride."

He smiled again and offered his arm.

She took it and they walked together toward the garage, both trying their hardest not to dwell on Project Insight.

They weren't doing a good job, but eventually they reached Steve's motorcycle and he swung a leg over it almost effortlessly, looking back at Aurora with a faint smile, almost sheepishly before she slipped just as easily onto the back, her arms wrapping around his middle.

"Ready?" He asked quietly and she could have sworn there was something different in the tone of his voice that she quickly brushed off, trying harder than usual not to slip into his mind as her palms pressed against the warm expanse of his abdomen through the thin fabric of his shirt. She pulled her hand back quickly, clutching at the leather of his jacket instead, needing more distance between their skin before she just let herself slip into his mind.

"What? Oh, yeah." She whispered and Steve cranked the bike into a roar before starting from the parking lot, looking back at Aurora every few minutes with a grin like he was making sure she wasn't going to just tuck and roll in the next turn.

She found her mind drifting into deeper into his, and Steve didn't push her out. She felt all of his current emotions, touched a few of his memories, and knew what he was thinking without ever realizing she was doing it.

Even when she dipped deep enough that he was sure to notice he didn't push her out, didn't even react. She just skimmed some of his memories though, those that were pushed closest to the front of his mind. She saw herself in a few, but couldn't quite place where, or what made her think there was just something _off_ with them.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, 2014**_

They pulled up to a building, and he just smiled at her again, and her connection to his mind was lost, at least she thought it was. She could focus on other things now, his thoughts and emotions no longer all she could sense.

"So, what did you think?" He asked slowly, still smiling at her, even if he had his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket.

"What?" She asked in surprise, suddenly worried that he knew she was accidentally snooping. "Think about what?"

Steve chuckled lightly, starting towards the door. "Riding with me."

"Oh, yeah, it was fun." She agreed with a quick smile as he stopped to open the building door for her. She thought that could be right, she honestly hadn't been paying that much attention at the end of the ride.

She stopped for a moment, looking at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum before them. "Steve, this isn't our apartment building."

He smiled and slid a dark blue baseball hat on. "I know. Come on. I just wanna take a quick look around."

She sighed slightly and nodded. "Alright."

They walked into the Captain America exhibit, and an automated male voice started to tell Steve's story.

 _"A symbol to the nation. A hero to the world. The story of Captain America is one of honor, bravery, and sacrifice."_

Aurora and Steve walked past the large mural painting of a saluting Captain America, Steve keeping his head down more than Aurora was.

They stepped up to the next section of the exhibit—a pre-serum, post-serum comparison.

" _Denied_ _enlistment_ _due_ _to_ _poor_ _health_ , _Steven Rogers was chosen for a program unique in the annals of American warfare. One that would transform him into the world's first super soldier_."

Aurora looked at it with a soft gaze. She remembered her grandmother, Lucille, telling her about how small he was when they first met, that she was taller than he was by two or three inches. But Aurora never expected to see the weight as only ninety-five pounds.

She looked at Steve. "Ninety-five pounds?"

He shrugged slightly. "I had a lot of health issues."

She snorted. "Yeah, my grandma told me that."

She looked down to the post-serum half of the comparison, and she almost blushed. He was now six foot, two inches tall, two-hundred-and-forty pounds, and the picture was of him shirtless.

She looked back to him with a barely contained smile. "Nice picture."

Steve flushed and looked down, tilting down the bill of his ball cap as they walked again.

The next part was showing the height difference in changing pictures, and you could compare it to yourself.

Steve and Aurora glanced over to see a boy, probably no older than ten, wearing a Captain America shirt and staring in shock at the two Avengers, mostly at Steve—like everyone else did.

Steve pressed a finger to his lips over a slight smile, telling the boy to keep it secret.

The boy slowly nodded, not quite getting past his shock.

They turned to see a war video playing on their other side, next to the old motorcycle Steve used to fight on.

They kept walking, Aurora unsure how much teasing or questioning she could give in that place.

They passed the row of mannequins that held the uniforms of each Howling Commando, with a large mural showing each of their faces behind the respective mannequin.

" _Battle_ _tested, Captain America and his team of Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down Hydra—the Nazi Rogue Science Division._ "

Aurora felt Steve's mind quiet with sadness, a single memory floating almost absently through his mind when they reached the next section of the museum. It was about James Buchanan Barnes.

 _"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."_

Aurora looked at the videos of Steve and Bucky together. It seemed that, despite whatever sour situation they were in, they could always make one another smile.

The next section was witnesses and friends of Captain America talking about the good he'd done.

Steve slipped inside the small theater that showed the videos.

Aurora gingerly moved up beside him to see.

It was of Peggy Carter and Lucille Adler, two close friends that had worked closely with Captain America. At the time of the video, Agent Carter was working for the SSR, and Lucille Adler was still a nurse, but no longer with the army. They were speaking together about the saving actions of Captain America.

Aurora took a short breath. Lucille was her grandmother, and she never realized how much she looked like her until that moment, when the only thing that kept her from thinking she was looking in a mirror was that her grandmother's eyes were both green instead of heterochromic.

"That was a difficult winter," Peggy started, "a blizzard had trapped half our battalion behind the German lines."

"Steve—" Lucille caught herself with a hard swallow. "Captain Rogers, he fought his way through a Hydra blockade that had pinned our allies down for months. He saved over a thousand lives that day."

Aurora glanced over at Steve, who looked down to the compass in his hand, which held a picture of Lucille.

"Including the two men that would become our husbands," Peggy finished off. "Even after Steve died he was still changing our lives."

Steve stood up and left after that, and Aurora hurriedly followed him out.

"One more stop to make before we go back, alright?" Steve said, though it wasn't really a question. If she didn't want to walk, she'd have to accompany him. She didn't know it was going to be to the nursing home to see her own grandmother.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Washington D.C., 2014_**

"Steve?" Aurora asked in shock as he stopped the motorcycle. "What are we doing here?"

Steve smiled almost sheepishly. "I wanted to talk to an old friend."

"My grandmother?" The mutant asked, raising an eyebrow. "And her best friend?"

"You know Peggy too?"

"Grandma Lucy and Peggy are best friends," Aurora explained. "Peggy's practically my aunt."

Steve nodded, accepting that without argument, it made sense after all. Lucy and Peggy had been close during the war, them being friends after so many years was only right.

Aurora stood close to Steve as they walked in, trying not to actually touch him for fear of the telepathic connection she was already trying to push away at his closeness. "You really just wanted to come visit?" She asked softly, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

Steve shrugged again. "Something like that." He agreed quietly, looking around the nursing home before turning down Lucy's hall without needing instruction by the receptionist, only smiling at the woman before going easily pass.

"You must come here a lot." Aurora noted softly, not looking at him anymore as the door to her grandmother's room drew closer.

"Probably more often than I should," he admitted quietly. "But Lucy never seems to mind, and neither does Peggy. Peggy gets a little more annoyed by my constant badgering, though."

Aurora almost smiled. "Sounds like Peggy."

Steve smiled quickly at her before stopping at the door to Lucille's room, knocking gently before peeking his head around. "Lucy?"

"Steve!" Lucille sounded thrilled to see the super-soldier standing in the doorway. "Come in, come in, please."

He smiled brightly at the woman, stepping quickly inside at her excitement, moving towards the bed where she was laying.

"It's good to see you, Lucy." He whispered.

Aurora turned towards him a bit when she heard a bit more of his native New Yorker slipping out as he spoke to her grandmother.

Lucy pressed her hand to his cheek. "I missed you, too."

Steve smiled at her, laying his palm over the top of her fingers. "I brought someone with me." He said quickly, pulling back to let her see Aurora standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Gram." Aurora greeted with a small wave, smiling as she took a step forward.

She smiled and held out her arms. "Oh, my little one! How are you?"

"I'm good," she promised almost sheepishly moving past Steve to hug Lucille. "How are you?"

"Better now that you're here. You can tell me all the embarrassing and cute things Steve does now."

"Gram!" Aurora laughed, feeling herself blush a little at her grandmother's laugh and smile at Steve.

"Oh don't be so embarrassed, sweetie, I know him too."

"I don't know about cute so much as reckless and stupid," Aurora commented, looking at Steve with an expression of teasing accusation. "Considering he jumped out of a plane with no parachute."

"Steve!" Lucy snapped in an almost motherly tone.

Steve looked at Aurora in betrayal. "You jumped with me!"

"That's not the point here, Rogers."

Lucy's green eyes were scolding. "And you let my grandbaby jump without a parachute?!"

Steve held up a hand in a calming gesture, looking between the women. "I wasn't going to let her hit anything. And she caught me," he admitted with a small smile.

Lucy smiled proudly at Aurora. "I'm sure she did. She's a very special girl."

Aurora blushed slightly.

Steve smiled again and nodded. "That she is," he agreed, looking back up at Aurora.

She blushed deeper, covering her face with her hands.

Lucy laughed softly, reaching to gently set her hand over top of her granddaughter's. "See? I'm not the only one who notices these things, dear."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "I'm not special. Not when my brother is a genius nuclear physicist and an Avenger."

"Who doesn't even call his decrepit grandmother." Lucy grumbled.

"You know why," Aurora pointed out.

"I do," Lucy huffed. "But I don't understand it. What harm would a phone call do?"

Aurora chuckled. "I'll get him to call you. I promise."

Lucy motioned her to lean down for her. "I knew there was a good reason I loved you so much."

Aurora smiled, blushing a little.

Steve opened his mouth to say something before Lucy broke into a coughing fit, and he moved quickly for the glass of water on the bedside table near him.

Lucy took it gratefully, her green eyes glossy like the world was suddenly different.

She looked up, and they widened when she saw Steve.

Steve smiled sadly. "Hey, Lucy."

"Steve?" She pressed a bony, shaking hand to her mouth. "I missed you so much. It's been so long since…"

"I know," he said softly, taking her hand. "But I'm here now. And you still owe me that dance, doll."

Aurora smiled sadly and stepped out of the room, moving to visit her Aunt Peggy instead.

It always hurt to see her grandmother—the wisest, best person she knew—lose herself.

* * *

Aurora was waiting outside when Steve finally exited, staring at the floor as she leaned against the wall.

Steve smiled at her almost sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry about what?" Aurora asked softly. "You handled that perfectly."

"That's not what I meant," Steve admitted.

Aurora raised a thin brunette eyebrow. "Then what for?"

"I—uh, flirting with your grandmother?" He tried with a nervous laugh.

"Oh." Aurora bit back laughter. "That was flirting? I thought you were just being polite."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "What's the difference?"

That time, she did laugh. "Maybe you should write _Flirting for Dummies_ in that journal of yours."

His brow furrowed. "I can't tell if you're joking."

She turned back toward him, stepping forward and smirking as she stood only inches from his chest. She dropped her tone, making it quieter and a little more… everything that made a man desire a woman. "I'll teach you how to flirt, okay?"

Steve blushed furiously. "I, um… okay."

She smiled, shaking her head as she backed up and turned for the exit.

It took the good Captain a moment to follow.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Veterans Association, 2014_**

Steve and Aurora stood outside the door at the VA, peering into a meeting that was being run by Sam while a woman with shoulder-length brunette hair spoke.

"I think it's getting worse," she said softly. "A cop pulled me over the other day. He thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic back." She looked down. "I thought it was an IED."

After a beat or two of silence, Sam spoke to the group. "Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back. It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase? Or in a little man-purse? It's up to you."

They waited to speak with Sam as he was saying goodbye to the class he had been with. When they were all gone, he turned to speak with Steve and Aurora.

"Well, look who it is. The running man." Sam winked at Aurora. "You here to flirt like you said?"

Aurora smiled slightly. "Maybe not today."

"We caught the last few minutes," Steve told him. "It's pretty intense."

"Yeah, brother," Sam said as he picked some books off of a small table. "We've all got the same problems. Guilt, regret."

Aurora felt Sam's emotions pulse momentarily.

"Did you lose someone?" Steve asked, noticing the quiet echo in the back of his head that mimicked the strong throb of emotion that Aurora felt.

Sam nodded slowly. "My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission—standard, PJ, rescue op. Nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till an RPG knocked Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. There was nothing I could do. It was like I was up there just to watch."

"I'm sorry," Aurora said softly.

"After than," Sam said with a shrug. "I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, ya know?"

Aurora nodded slowly.

"Are you happy now?" Steve asked, leaning against the wall with his hand stuffed in his pockets. "Back in the world?"

"Well, the number of people giving me orders is down to… zero," Sam said as he made a show of glancing around the building. "So hell yeah. What, you two thinking about getting out?"

They glanced at each other, both thinking similar things. Aurora didn't know what she could do if she wasn't at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"No," Steve replied for both of them before pausing and nodding slightly. "I don't know. To be honest, I don't think either of us would know what to do with ourselves if we did."

Sam nodded slightly. "Ultimate fighting?" He suggested immediately. "Or a scientist? Just a great idea off the top of my head. Seriously, either of you could do whatever you wanna do. What makes you guys happy?"

They looked at each other for a split second, like the other would know the answer to what made them happy.

Neither of them realized that was both of them giving their answer.

Both of them looked back to Sam.

Sam nodded knowingly.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Apartment Building, 2014**_

Steve and Aurora walked into the apartment building, where Aurora moved to unlock the apartment door across from Steve's.

"Thanks for the ride," she told him with a smile.

Steve smiled back. "Anytime. Maybe we should carpool more often."

Aurora smiled a little wider. "Maybe we should."

Steve moved to unlock the door when Aurora paused.

"Steve," she said softly, "did you leave your stereo on?"

He frowned deeply. "No."

Aurora frowned herself and stepped toward the door, standing just behind Steve, like she was ready to leap in front of him or toss up an energy shield at any moment.

Steve hesitated, and changed his plan.

He slid in through the window, helping Aurora in behind him. and stepped inside quietly, picking up a shield that was resting against the wall by the door.

They both inched toward the living room of his apartment, toward the sound of the playing stereo. Steve was still protectively in front of Aurora, despite her ability to protect the both of them with a much larger shield than his overly large frisbee. It didn't change the fact that she knew he still had the roaring twenties on the brain. Able to hold her own or not, it was his place to make sure nothing happened to her.

His broad shoulders blocked her view for a moment and she tried reaching out with her mind before Steve abruptly stood down, still tense, but he let the shield drop to his side with a faint sigh.

Fury looked up from the chair he had commandeered.

"I don't remember giving you a key," Steve said with a small huff.

Fury snorted. "You really think I'd need one?"

"No disrespect, Director," Aurora spoke up quickly. "But what are you doing here?"

"My wife kicked me out," he answered calmly, shifting in the chair with a small groan of pain.

"Didn't know you were married," Steve said with another frown.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know, Nick." Steve reached to turned on the lamp near Fury's chair. "That's the problem."

He switched the light on, and Steve and Aurora both looked at the injured Director in shock when the lamp revealed his injuries.

Fury pressed a finger over his lips to indicate silence from them as he leaned over at an achingly slow speed, flicking the light back off. He turned his phone around, a message typed in it. _Ears everywhere_.

He spoke again, then, at Aurora and Steve's concerned and confused looks. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." He typed another message. _S.H.I.E.L.D. compromised._

The confusion dissipated into pure concern.

"Who else knows about your wife?" Steve asked quickly.

 _The three of us._ "Just… my friends."

"Sure thing, _boss_ ," Aurora said with a disbelievingly raised eyebrow.

Steve raised his own eyebrow. "Is that what we are? Friends?"

Fury stood stiffly. "That's up to you."

Aurora tensed all over when everything went all wrong, freezing as things escalated in the following moments. Suddenly she sensed everything—the traffic, the thoughts of every person in a six block radius, and even the simple thoughts of the birds in the trees and the squirrels in the parks. One set of thoughts was different, though. Obviously human, but no more simple than the squirrel's with its one apparent thought—his mission.

Three bullets collided with Fury's chest and he collapsed before them.

Steve reacted first. He looked outside for the shooter. He knelt then and slid Fury into the other room.

Fury reached up and pressed a flash drive into Steve's hand with enough pressure to make the Captain's fingers curl around it reflexively. "Don't… trust anyone… but h-her."

Aurora finally reacted again. She pulled her phone from her pocket and called S.H.I.E.L.D. "This is Agent Borealis from mine and Captain Rogers's apartment building. Foxtrot is down, I repeat, Foxtrot is down. He is unresponsive. I need EMTs."

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent didn't hesitate to respond. "Do you have a twenty on the shooter?"

She and Steve traded knowing glances, and she nodded once. "We're in pursuit."

She hung up, and they took off.

Steve rushed through halls so fast he had to use his shield to bounce off corners and keep going.

Aurora was hot on his heels, skidding around corners a little more gracefully than the Captain, though unable to keep the same speed. She nearly lost him before he burst out onto a neighboring roof shouting for the black clad assassin to stop before hurling his shield at the fleeing figure's back.

He caught it.

Aurora's mismatched eyes widened, and she caught the gleam of a chrome plated metal arm, a red star high on the bicep, near the shoulder.

The assassin hurled the shield back, and it collided with Steve's gut, and knocking him backward.

Aurora shot teal energy toward the assassin, invading his mind enough to find the feralness and simplicity of his thoughts. His objective was not only the only thing he cared about, it was the only thing on his mind at all.

The assassin escaped.

Aurora turned toward Steve.

The Captain was breathless as he held his shield at his ribcage where it had hit, straightening stiffly. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know," Aurora said quietly, breathing heavily herself. More from fear of the assassin, of his unchecked and erratic mind, than of exertion. "But I bet this isn't the last we'll see of him."


End file.
